The world might see the poppy fields of Afghanistan as a vast illegal business earning millions and millions, a lucrative trade for some. but for the Afghan child, it is a tale of labor, exploitation, deprivation, and abuse. The perpetrators of the Afghan children are not only the drug dealers and local mafia but even in Schools, the children are not safe, especially from teachers who own poppy fields.
This Photo story uncovers the painful truth and the disturbing connection between child abuse and generational trauma in the poppy fields. It is through my lens that I captured the alarming pictures of poppy fields in the Khogyani district, some thirty kilometers north of Jalalabad city in the east part of Afghanistan. Young girls and boys as young as five are engaged in Poppy cultivation in harsh weather and under intense labor conditions. At the height of the cultivation, even the schoolteachers forced students to work in poppy fields in return for a promise of good marks. Several students, when asked about the work, said, “Failing to work in the poppy fields for School teachers means failing in exams” For students, not only the school curriculum missed, but some students, after working in the Poppy fields of teachers also work in their poppy fields in the afternoon, labor too heavy for young children without any benefits but losing a chance of bright future.